Resilience and regrowth in times of disaster or crisis is our history. So many disasters took place in human evolution and history but we have survived and even thrived. But there is a break point. In physics we study Hooke’s law, which states that the strain, that is deformation, of an elastic object or material is proportional to the stress. But that is only up to a point, after which the material breaks or snaps. In our life time, we have seen symptoms that the tolerance level of the nature has reached the breakpoint and the challenge for human survival has already begun. Covid-19 could be one such break point in human history.
Covid pandemic has been a crisis. But crisis could lead to creativity or sometimes to violence: Take the crisis created by Germany and Japan in WWII. The aftermath was that both the countries were not allowed to have their own military. But both the countries invested in industries, education, social security, and research instead of defense and they have become super powers today. (India’s military spending is the third highest in the world, after the USA and China). The Switzerland is another country which voluntarily did not opt for military but concentrated on financial management of the world and microtools manufacturing. And it has also become a power to reckon with in the world market. The other effect of crisis is violence: French revolution is an example. You could take any violence at local, national, and global levels. Violence often is the outburst of anger against a system that discriminates or suppresses people.
Now, coming back to Covid-19 situation, we see the positive outcome of the pandemic in social and media research. LIFE was involved in research to address the crisis through awareness campaign by publication of articles. We realized that our food system has all the effective ways to face Covid-19, namely lemon, turmeric, pepper, garlic, ginger etc. What we normally use for pepper water at home, were found to be effective antidote to Covid. We also grew in resilience as we picked up will power to endure the onslaught of the tiny virus as well as to start again all over. We also should remember certain negative mushrooming in this context. They are certain unethical practices such as false rumours to create panic, substandard and ineffective production of medication or vaccines, and artificial inflation – all keeping in mind profit making at the expense of people’s health and welfare.
One thing we need to become aware of. That is, we are becoming prisoners of our own advancement in science. Let us take just one example: Electricity. Electricity and disaster seem to go hand in hand. In 1917 most of the countries in the world were electrified and in 1918 Spanish flu broke out claiming the lives of more than 21 million people in the Purple Death, which were more casualties than World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War all combined.[1] In 1935 Radars were discovered and installed all over the world and in 1939 more people died of radar waves than soldiers and civilians killed in World War II. In 1957, many countries started to install radio-active satellites and in 1968 the Hong Kong flu broke out and over one million people died due to H3N2 virus. By 2018, there were 2,666 satellites in operation and 5G made inroads and we have experienced Coronavirus pandemic in 2019. Interestingly, the first city that was completely covered by 5G is Wuhan in China and it was there that the pandemic broke out – Even now the fight with Covid there is far from getting over.[2] For further details you could read The Invisible Rainbow by Arthur Fistenberg published in 2020. Another book that discusses the health hazard due to electricity as well as use of electricity in health is The Body Electric by Robert Becker (1998). This book explores new pathways in our understanding of evolution, acupuncture, psychic phenomena, and healing as well.
As more and more electricals and electronics grew, more and more health hazards also increased. The German physician Rudolf Arndt made a connection between neurasthenia and electricity. And today neurasthenia is the most common of all psychiatric diagnoses as well as one of the most frequently diagnosed diseases in general medical practice.[3] It is often considered a sign of chronic toxicity.[4] Another area, that we are rushing in for research is nano-science. Now, while there are advantages, caution is given to be clear about the health hazards with nano-particles. According to the report in cooperation with OECD International Futures Program,”Many studies indicate that nanoparticles generally are more toxic when incorporated into the human body than larger particles of the same materials. Experts are overwhelmingly of the opinion that the adverse effects of nanoparticles cannot be reliably predicted or derived from the known toxicity of the bulk material. The biggest concern is that free nanoparticles or nanotubes could be inhaled, absorbed through the skin or ingested…. Transport through the blood stream to other vital organs or tissues of the body may result in cardiovascular and other extrapulmonary effects.”[5]
Research in any institute or institution should both percolate and permeate. The research findings should percolate down to the bottom of the social pyramid; and at the same time it should permeate the entire globe for the common wellbeing. We could think of new vistas and avenues for our present and future research.
Take for example, porphyrins. “They play a vital role in the modern epidemics of heart diseases, cancer, and diabetes, which affect half the world… Porphyrins are more efficient energy transmitters than any other of life’s components. In technical terms, their ionization potential is low, and their electron affinity is high. They are, therefore, capable of transmitting large amounts of energy rapidly in small steps, one low-energy electron at a time. They can even transmit energy electronically from oxygen to other molecules, instead of dissipating that energy as heat and burning up. That’s why breathing is possible. On the other side of the great cycle of life, porphyrins in plants absorb the energy of sunlight and transport electrons that change carbon dioxide and water into carbohydrates and oxygen.”[6]
Another material of interest is zinc: “The role of zinc was discovered in the 1950s by Henry Peters at the University of Wisconsin Medical School. Large amount of zinc are in fact entering our environment, our homes, and our bodies from industrial processes, galvanized metals, and even the fillings in our teeth… There is so much zinc in automobile tires that their constant erosion makes zinc one of the main components of road dust – which washes into our streams, rivers, and reservoirs, eventually getting into our drinking water.”[7] “Nutritionists have long been misled by using blood tests to judge the body’s stores of zinc… Scientists are finding out that there is no relation between the amount of zinc in your diet and the level of zinc in your blood… It is common to have high levels of zinc in the brain while having normal or low levels of zinc in the blood. In a number of diseases including diabetes and cancer, urinary zinc is high while blood zinc is low.”[8]
The way forward is multidisciplinary research and LIFE has been showing the way for the good of people and environment. In this context, we need perspectives, a balanced outlook. We should make a distinction between what we want to know and what we need to know. We should concentrate on need-based and people oriented research without neglecting ethics. It might be the right time that LIFE contemplates on collaborative and multidisciplinary research in the domains of medicine and agriculture – both of them are essential for the people.
LIFE has developed the focus, right from its inception, on energy, environment, and ethics. And LIFE has once again proved the purpose of its founding and existence. I would like to congratulate Dr Selvanayagam, Director of LIFE, for his contribution in the energy and environment and his efforts and impulses to activate LIFE; and I thank Dr John Mary, Organizing Secretary of the Conference, who had not only made contributive research during the Covid pandemic but now has organized this international conference so well. While I thank all the resource persons and research scholars for your contribution to the success of this conference, I recommend all researchers in LIFE to address the need in the society. With concerted efforts we could make a difference in creating a world of health and happiness.
Francis P Xavier SJ
13Dec2022
[1] https://www.paho.org/en/who-we-are/history-paho/purple-death-great-flu-1918#:~:text=The%20microscopic%20killer%20circled%20the,and%20the%20Vietnam%20War%20combined.
[2] A. Firstenberg, The Invisible Rainbow, Chelsea Green Pub., London, 2020.
[3] A. Kleinman, The Illness Narrative, Basic Books, New York, 1988, p.103, World Psychiatric Association 2002, p.9, In: A. Firstenberg, The Invisible Rainbow, Chelsea Green Pub., London, 2020 (Ch. 5).
[4] World Psychiatric Association 2002, p.10, In: A. Firstenberg, The Invisible Rainbow, Chelsea Green Pub., London, 2020 (Ch. 5).
[5] https://www.oecd.org/science/nanosafety/37770473.pdf – In: Opportunigies and Risks of Nanotechnologies, p.30f.
[6] A. Firstenberg, The Invisible Rainbow, Chelsea Green Pub., London, 2020 (Ch. 10 – Porphyrins and the Basis of Life).
[7] J.V. Lagerwerff and A.W. Specht, Contamination of Roadside Soil and Vegetation with Cadmium, Nickel, Lead, and Zinc, Environmental Science and Technology 4 (7) 1970 583-586, In: A. Firstenberg, The Invisible Rainbow, Chelsea Green Pub., London, 2020 (Ch. 10 – Porphyrins and the Basis of Life).
[8] A. Firstenberg, The Invisible Rainbow, Chelsea Green Pub., London, 2020 (Ch. 10 – Porphyrins and the Basis of Life).